*What book are you reading ?

[Student Minor]

Im currently reading 'No Country for Old Men' absolutely love it at the moment. Also when I find it I'm reading a book about Operation Sea Lion, by Peter Flemming which is dam fine book but a might heavy going. Thoose are the ones I'm reading theres a pile of books 10 high by my bed.

 

[StanSmith]

Its an old one but I am reading The Dice Man by George Cockcroft aka Luke Rheinehart. I know its been considered a bit wayward in the past but so far so good.....imagine living life on a roll of a dice?

 

[sojourner]

Its an old one but I am reading The Dice Man by George Cockcroft aka Luke Rheinehart. I know its been considered a bit wayward in the past but so far so good.....imagine living life on a roll of a dice?

I loathed that book. Made it halfway through and couldn't take any more of his drivel. Ooo, shall we decide with the dice, shall we? Why don't you take your shitty little boring story and shove it up yer arse - were my thoughts

 

[rollinder]

The Nature of Monsters by Clare Clark

 

[the button]

The long recessional -- a biography of Rudyard Kipling by a bloke whose name evades me.

 

[sojourner]

The Wrong Boy, by Willy Russell

Started it last night and couldn't put it down. Funny as fuck, heartbreaking, full of insight/empathy with adolescents, it's written as a series of letters to Morrissey

One line that particularly had me laughing out loud was when he was describing his cousins - 'Mark and Sonia were the kind of children who'd make a paedophile eat his own sweets'

 

[El Jefe]

I loathed that book. Made it halfway through and couldn't take any more of his drivel. Ooo, shall we decide with the dice, shall we? Why don't you take your shitty little boring story and shove it up yer arse - were my thoughts

It's up there with Zen & The Art Of Motorcyle Maintenance, anything by Richard Bach and On The Road as stuff you can get away with reading aged 13-14, but after that it's just embarrasing.

See also: The Doors.

 

[Pieface]

Just finished the Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin. It was interesting as all her novels are but I find that she never writes characters you like or care about - barring perhaps Ged in the Earthsea quartet but even he was very cold and distant. She excels at the "alien".

It's not a problem for me but it holds you at a distance from the book, so you consider what she's writing and why, rather than worrying about the wellbeing of the characters.

Her books deal with politics and gender so much more than I thought they would. Most crappy scifi is mainly about the fantasy and the world, that stuff is all just a background to her stories, which ironically makes them feel more realistic. She's very good.

 

[sojourner]

It's up there with Zen & The Art Of Motorcyle Maintenance, anything by Richard Bach and On The Road as stuff you can get away with reading aged 13-14, but after that it's just embarrasing.

See also: The Doors.

Heh My copy of that still has some hideously embarrassing teenage comments written in the front pages

 

[sojourner]

Just finished the Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin. It was interesting as all her novels are but I find that she never writes characters you like or care about - barring perhaps Ged in the Earthsea quartet but even he was very cold and distant. She excels at the "alien".

It's not a problem for me but it holds you at a distance from the book, so you consider what she's writing and why, rather than worrying about the wellbeing of the characters.

Her books deal with politics and gender so much more than I thought they would. Most crappy scifi is mainly about the fantasy and the world, that stuff is all just a background to her stories, which ironically makes them feel more realistic. She's very good.

Sometimes I really like that kind of writing - sometimes I get really fucking fed up of 'identification', if you know what I mean.

Having said that, have you ever read The Drivers Seat by Muriel Spark? Same sort of thing - drove me round the bend it did

 

[Pieface]

I read the Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and gave not a fig for her or her bloody protegés!

 

[sojourner]

I read the Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and gave not a fig for her or her bloody protegés!

Try The Drivers Seat - it's a million miles away from PMJB

 

[Pieface]

I think I may

 

[bluestreak]

For the first time in over a year I am working far enough away that I get some quality reading time on my commute. It's wonderful. In the last ten days I've re-read The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula le Guin, and Iain Banks' The Business. Both were great and well recommended. I am currently reading PJ O'Rourke's Peace Kills and can do nothing but note that he's getting less astute and more inaccurate as he gets older, which is a shame. In his early career I often felt that he was actually a good observer of and describer of the world, albeit one that then used the facts to make a massive leap into an incorrect political analysis. He turned cynicism into greedy pessimism, whereas I used the same information to inform my anarchist leanings. However in this text he's turned into the same sad old flag-waver of the type he used to sneer at. So I think that's one for the charity shop.

 

[Roadkill]

Francis Pryor - Britain in the Middle Ages: An Archaeological History

It's really good, and very interesting to see the differences in approach between archaeologists and historians.

 

[cybertect]

Susan Sontag - On Photography

 

[ringo]

Francis Pryor - Britain in the Middle Ages: An Archaeological History

It's really good, and very interesting to see the differences in approach between archaeologists and historians.

He's brilliant, worked with him and went out on the lash with him a few times. His enthusiasm is infectious, runs about like an excited puppy. Mike Parker-Pearson has a similar style.

 

[foo]

Anne Tyler - The Accidental Tourist.

i finished it in a day and a half. she's an odd one, i can't put her down as easy-reading, or chick lit. but she is kind of lite. saying all that, it was enjoyable escapism and she does write cleverly when it comes to human relationships imo.

 

[Dirty Martini]

Finished Estates -- An Intimate History by Lynsey Hanley, which I'd read a bit about and was looking forward to.

Well, it's OK. The history of council housing section in the middle is interesting, though it could have done with a bit more detail and some photos. The memoir sections that sandwich it are weaker. In my opinion, she doesn't have enough interesting things to say about how she emerged from a council estate and became a journalist, and comes across like she's the only one ever to have done so. The final sections, about her life in Tower Hamlets and her prescriptions for future social housing policy, are intermittently interesting, but repetitious and waffly. And the editor needs shooting -- really poor in parts. I've noticed this with some Granta books. It's a shame because they have a great list.

Still, I learned a fair bit.

 

[Dirty Martini]

That Awful Mess on the Via Merulana by Carlo Emilio Gadda

 

[Roadkill]

He's brilliant, worked with him and went out on the lash with him a few times. His enthusiasm is infectious, runs about like an excited puppy.

Yes, I got that impression from his writing. I like academics like that; enthusiastic as well as knowledgeable. He's a good, lively writer as well.

My latest purchase flopped through the door this morning; Peter Tatlow's St John's Lewisham, Fifty Years On: Restoring the Traffic' So I think much of my weekend will be taken up with that - once I finish Pryor, that is.

 

[Belushi]

I am currently reading PJ O'Rourke's Peace Kills and can do nothing but note that he's getting less astute and more inaccurate as he gets older, which is a shame. In his early career I often felt that he was actually a good observer of and describer of the world, albeit one that then used the facts to make a massive leap into an incorrect political analysis. He turned cynicism into greedy pessimism, whereas I used the same information to inform my anarchist leanings. However in this text he's turned into the same sad old flag-waver of the type he used to sneer at. So I think that's one for the charity shop.

Couldn't agree more mate, read his book about Adam Smiths 'Wealth of Nations' a while back and it's awful, real first year undergrad stuff.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

if nobody speaks of remarkable things, by Jon McGregor

Gripping, so far. Simply but well written - intricate, but uncomplicated, and poetic in parts

Liking it, lots

Started it this week and couldn't get on with it at all......it was all a bit self-consciously 'modern' I thought...no speech marks round speech, missing full stops and so on.....what was it, 'the disaster' that happened?

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Finished Estates -- An Intimate History by Lynsey Hanley, which I'd read a bit about and was looking forward to.

Well, it's OK. The history of council housing section in the middle is interesting, though it could have done with a bit more detail and some photos. The memoir sections that sandwich it are weaker. In my opinion, she doesn't have enough interesting things to say about how she emerged from a council estate and became a journalist, and comes across like she's the only one ever to have done so. The final sections, about her life in Tower Hamlets and her prescriptions for future social housing policy, are intermittently interesting, but repetitious and waffly. And the editor needs shooting -- really poor in parts. I've noticed this with some Granta books. It's a shame because they have a great list.

Still, I learned a fair bit.

I liked it because I live on an estate, brought up all my children (now all grown-ups) on an estate and usually books about estates are all patronising & worthy about people like me & mine, or think we are undeserving scum, and I learned a lot too. There are some really funny passages too. It could have done with more illustration and better editing, I agree.

 

[ChrisC]

American Gods By Neil Gaiman.

Never ever read any of his books before. So not sure what to expect. Based on Amazon reviews it seems like it could be good.

 

[Orang Utan]

Started it this week and couldn't get on with it at all......it was all a bit self-consciously 'modern' I thought...no speech marks round speech, missing full stops and so on.....what was it, 'the disaster' that happened?

I loved it - thought it was a fantastic achievement - finish it and you'll find out what the disaster is

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Nah, life's too short to read books that irritate the fuck out of me and anyway I gave it back to the library. I tried but the only 'fantastic achievement' would have been to read another page. I nearly hurled it across the tube carriage in frustration at the lack of punctuation. Do I care about who lived at No 18? Do I fuck.

 

[Orang Utan]

I like books that don't have punctuation in them - it streamlines the prose and gives it an immediacy

 

[Mrs Magpie]

No, it makes it hard to read.

 

[Orang Utan]

No, it makes it hard to read.

I don't think it does once you get used to it - I like it especially when speech is freed from punctuation - it flows better